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After the Minnesota state legislature voted to pass same-sex marriage yesterday, 78-59 in the lower chamber, with even some Republican support, Minnesota is now poised to become a state which allows same-sex marriage. But of course not all Republicans came away happy.

h/t Talking Points Memo. Video by Fox 9, Minneapolis.

“My heart breaks for Minnesota,” said a Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover.

“It’s a divisive issue that divides our state,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes as she stood on the House floor after the vote. “It’s not what we needed to be doing at this time. We want to come together for the state of Minnesota, we don’t want to divide it.”

Amendment 1, a proposal to ban gay marriage in Minnesota forever was passed by Republicans in 2011, but was later rejected by voters at the ballot box in November 2012, 52.6% - 47.4%, and "resulted in Minnesota being the first state, after 30 attempts, to defeat a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage". Millions of dollars were spent on both sides, evenly splitting the state for months with a long and rancorous debate.

But that's what happens when Republicans do things a lot of people don't like. In contrast, Thursday's vote was marked by civility.

The Senate is expected to vote on and pass the bill on Monday.

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A disgraced former Navy chaplain explained on Monday that Jesus Christ was effectively a "biologist" because he knew that "three women and a dog" can't make a baby.

In a Monday interview, Internet talk show host David Pakman asked conservative former Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt if he acknowledged that there was a trend in the United States toward the legalization of LGBT rights, decriminalization of marijuana and support of reproductive rights for women.

Klingenschmitt explained that there was a "polarization" between some Americans becoming more liberal and some churches that were becoming more conservative.

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The archbishop of the Washington diocese said Easter Sunday that he was concerned that Catholics would be shunned for opposing same sex marriage -- and that it was gay and lesbian Americans who need to "make room" for the very people discriminating against them.

During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked Cardinal Donald Wuerl how the church would react to gay and lesbian members who wanted to get married if the U.S. Supreme Court found that state and federal bans on same sex marriage were unconstitutional.

"The Catholic Church also reminds all of us there is a moral law, they are the commandments of God and we have to do our best to live by them," Wuerl insisted. "The church is probably -- with 20 centuries of experience -- the most understanding of the human condition of any institution. But at the same time, it does remind not only gay people but heterosexual people, straight people, you're not supposed to be following a moral law apart from what Christ has said to us."

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Abyssinian Baptist Church Pastor Calvin Butts on Sunday called on the U.S. Supreme Court to legalize same sex marriage because it was part of "the freedom God has given you."

"It's something that we don't believe in, in terms of what we have learned from the Bible," Butts told ABC's George Stephanopolous. "But in terms of men and women having their rights as citizens and human beings, we certainly affirm that."

"You should have every right as a citizen of this nation and every right as a human being to enjoy the freedom that God has given you. The choice is yours. And I should not stand in the way of you making that choice."

Butts added that even though his religion did not teach that "marriage between a man and a man or a woman and a woman is God's divine imperative," it would be wrong for him to oppose marriage equality for all Americans.

"And I think that the Supreme Court should not stand in the way of that," the pastor explained. "I have to support that in a civil society because, otherwise, I would not be a good citizen of our great nation and a participant of this great experiment in democracy."

"However, I choose to believe the book upon which I build my life."

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The former chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) says that the Republican Party has been "cast in the negative" by the media for opposing marriage equality, but the focus should be on how the party is compassionate for allowing LGBT people hospital visitation rights.

During a Sunday panel discussion on Fox News, host Chris Wallace asked former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie, who was also a senior advisor to former nominee Mitt Romney and former President George W. Bush, how the Republican Party would deal with the public opinion quickly trending toward equal rights for LGBT people.

"I don't see the Republican Party or most Republicans changing in terms of marriage is between one man and one woman," Gillespie explained. "I do think that in the context of this debate, as in so many other debates, Republicans have been cast in the negative -- you know in the negative, saying we're opposing something as opposed to talking about what most Republicans are for."

"Most Republicans are also for the benefits of marriage in the legal system that are afforded protections like, for example, hospital visitation rights or survivorship benefits," he added. "And I think you'll hear more Republicans making that point, that we can do those things without having the government sanction same sex marriage."

Wallace wondered if Gillespie would have any problem with the 2016 Republican Party platform saying that "marriage is between a man and a woman."

"I wouldn't have any problem with that," the former RNC chairman insisted. "I believe the platform right now calls for a federal constitutional amendment to ban it. There may be a debate about that. I don't think you would ever see the Republican Party platform say we're in favor of same sex marriage."

(h/t: @igorvolsky)

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Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday concluded that permitting same sex marriage would effectively legalize pedophilia.

In a clip posted by Media Matters, Limbaugh expanded on a caller's argument against the Supreme Court coming down on the side of LGBT rights.

"She was talking about contracts, folks, just so you understand," the radio host explained. "Everybody can contract with a member of the opposite sex to marry them. But her point was that if same sex fits the bill of the contract then everything fits the bill."

Limbaugh then took that logic one step further.

"And at some point, who's to say that you cannot have sex with a child?" he asked.

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Evan Wolfson, the founder of the one of the country's top same sex marriage advocacy groups, on Sunday assured Family Research Council President Tony Perkins that "the gay people are not going to use up all the marriage licenses" if the Supreme Court strikes down marriage discrimination.

CBS host Bob Schieffer asked a Face the Nation panel if it would make more sense to drop the same sex marriage bans and allow churches to decide if they wanted to include gay and lesbian couples.

"And then various churches could define what they thought marriage was," Schieffer explained. "And gay people, other people could choose the church that fit their particular beliefs."

"If you want to talk about rights, let's talk about those rights that have been lost in the wake of same sex marriage," Perkins argued. "And religious freedom has been among them. You've got Catholic charities no longer doing adoptions, not providing vital services right here in this city as a result of same sex marriage in D.C. You've got parental rights that have been lost, parents no longer being able to determine what their children are taught, whose moral values they are taught in school. We have small businessmen losing their rights because they won't participate in same sex ceremonies. So you talk about rights, let's talk about rights."

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In a heated confrontation on Sunday, lesbian Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen shot down Faith and Freedom Coalition Chairman Ralph Reed after he argued that the primary purpose of marriage was procreation.

During a NBC panel discussion about the Supreme Court's decision to consider the federal government's Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Reed suggested that current polls in favor of same sex marriage did not matter because 31 state elections had backed "traditional marriage," while only three had affirmed marriage equality.

"The issue before the country is, do we have a compelling interest in strengthening and supporting the durable, enduring and uniquely complementary and procreative union of a man and a woman?" the conservative activist asked. "And by the way, the reason why is it's better for children, and all the social science shows that."

NBC host David Gregory pointed out that the American Academy of Pediatrics has said that marriage was in the best interest of children living with same sex parents.

"Ralph raises a point that we cannot ignore," Rosen observed. "Which is the rationale that the opposition is putting before the Supreme Court, the only difference between a gay couple and a married straight couple that gets benefits from the federal government is that one has accidental procreation. I think that would be a surprise to a lot of infertile heterosexual couples."

"Well, that's not really a fair characterization," Reed insisted.

"Of course it is," Rosen shot back. "That's the point you just made, which is the point of marriage is procreation. That's not the point of marriage. The point of marriage is love and commitment."

"What I said is the verdict of social science is overwhelming and irrefutable," Reed said, refusing to look at at Rosen, who is a same sex parent. "And that is without regard to straight or gay -- in other words, this applies to one-parent households, it applies to foster homes, it applies to the whole panoply. They have looked at them all, that the enduring, loving, intact biological mother and father is best for children and it's not even a close call. And the only issue before the court is there a social good to that and does the government have a legitimate issue in protecting and strengthening. That's the only issue."

"We're going to dispute on the science," Rosen replied.

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The president of a conservative organization which opposes rights for LGBT people on Sunday rejected the notion that public opinion now supports marriage equality because "the polls are skewed."

Speaking to American Values President Gary Bauer, Fox News host Chris Wallace wondered if conservatives should oppose the federal government interfering in states' rights by refusing to recognize the legal marriages of LGBT Americans.

"I don't think so," Bauer insisted. "A lot of people are changing their mind because there's been a full-court blitz by the popular culture, by elites, by all kinds of folks to intimidate and to cower people and to no longer defend marriage as being between a man and a woman."

"Quite frankly, the argument that the public is overwhelmingly in favor of same sex marriage is ludicrous," he continued. "If it was so obvious that the American public wants to try a radical social experiment that results in children in those households definitely -- definitely not having a mother and a father, that's what makes marriage a special institution. It guarantees that children have mothers and fathers. If the opinion of the American public was so overwhelming, the gay rights movement and their allies like Nicole [Wallace] would not be asking the Supreme Court to say to the America people, 'You have no say on this issue.'"

Wallace pointed out that a recent Washington Post poll found that 58 percent of Americans agreed that same sex marriage should be legal, and 70 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 39 supported equal marriage rights.

"Do you worry that this only puts the Republican Party further out of touch?" Wallace pressed Bauer.

"No, I'm not worried about it because the polls are skewed," the former Family Research Council president replied. "Just this last November, four states -- four liberal states -- voted on this issue. My side lost those votes, but my side had 45, 46 percent of the vote in all four of those liberal states. In fact, those marriage amendments that would keep marriage for a man and woman outran Mitt Romney in those four liberal states by an average of five points."

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Sunday suggested that implementing a flat tax could assuage gay and lesbian Americans who want equal marriage rights because straight marriages would not get a tax break.

During an interview on Fox News, host Chris Wallace pointed out that the Supreme Court would be hearing arguments this week on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prevents the federal government from recognizing same sex marriages even in states where those unions are legal.

"Would you strike down that as federal interference in a state matter," Wallace asked the libertarian senator.

"You know, I think it's a really complicated issue," Paul asserted. "I've always said the states have the right to decide. I do believe in traditional marriage. Kentucky's decided it, and I don't think the federal government should tell us otherwise. There are states that have decided in the opposite direction, and I don't think the federal government should tell anybody or any state government how they should decide this."

"I think there is a chance that the court could strike down the federalization part [of DOMA]," he continued. "If they do, I think the way to fix it is maybe to try to make all of our laws more neutral towards the issue. And I don't want the government promoting something I don't believe in, but I also don't mind if the government tries to be neutral on the issue."

"You know the tax code -- I'm for a flat income tax, and we wouldn't have marriage as part of the tax code."